President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday launched the first of South Africa's six new Nepad e-schools, information technology company Hewlett Packard (HP) said.

The first school to be equipped with an HP computer lab, complete with servers, personal computers, printers, faxes, scanners, copiers and wireless connectivity, was the Maripe Secondary School at Bushbuckridge in Limpopo.

The launch was part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) e-schools project, which aims to increase the use of technology in education and to increase information technology (IT) skills.

"Through our workshops, teachers and the local community will be able to learn the ICT (information and communication technology) skills that are needed to participate as equals in the global knowledge economy," chief executive of HP South Africa, Thoko Mokgosi-Mwantembe, said.

Less than 20 percent of the global population has access to IT
She said less than 20 percent of the global population has access to IT, while in Africa, only one in every 130 people has a computer.

Mokgosi-Mwantembe said the first African e-school was opened in Uganda in June 2005. Egypt's first e-school was launched earlier this year.

"By effectively addressing the challenges of imparting modern ICT skills and knowledge in African schoolchildren, partnerships between governments and companies can define the future of African youth," said Dr Henry Chasia, the deputy chairperson of the Nepad e-Africa Commission.

See also EvaluNet XT part of NEPAD e-School stable